Pass word one-by-one and replace (Search and replace with confirmation)

Question

I'd like to pass through a text an replace word1 by word2. However, I don't want to execute this task in one pass, but rather word by word. I know I could put the cursor on the word I want, execute *, then vw and finally r words. The problem is located on this last step. If I want to look for the next words, I can't with *, because I'd replace word1 by word2. Could anyone be able to help me at this point?

Alternatively in the workflow you've described you can just press n as word1 is still in the search register and n will take you to the next occurrence. — Tumbler41, Feb 22 '17 at 15:42
Also: Can I do an interactive :substitute (search & replace)?. — Martin Tournoij, Feb 23 '17 at 17:21

Tumbler41 · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-22T15:56:09.800

8

I think you're looking for the substitute command with confirmation:

:%s/word1/word2/gc

This will substitute word2 for word1, but every time it will take you to the match and let you decide what to do.

g means global. It will find all matches on the line.
c is for confirm. It applies the behavior described above.

See :help :substitute and :help :s_c for more info.

edited Feb 22 '17 at 15:56

answered Feb 22 '17 at 15:39

Tumbler41

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Pass word one-by-one and replace (Search and replace with confirmation)

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